The Heat of Lies

This tense, risky thriller, a second outing by the author of The Cold Truth, sets up a love- hate relationship between Julian Palmer, a police lieutenant in Troy, New York, and Winston "Bear" Edwards, the former cop who was her teacher and mentor before he tried to kill her and she testified against him in a murder trial. With the help of a good lawyer and the complicity of fellow cops who protected their former chief, Edwards beat the murder rap but served five years of hard time on a lesser charge. Now he's out of prison just as Julian finds herself at a dead end in her efforts to solve a baffling murder that's eerily reminiscent of the still unsolved slaying of her own father decades earlier.

There are no clues in the gunshot death of Frank Ryan, the current victim, but Julian takes a special interest in one of his children, with whom she fosters a personal, emotional bond. Unable to gain closure in her own tragedy, she vows to bring Ryan's killer to justice for the sake of his daughters. Then Edwards turns up, and with one glance at the murder scene he sets Julian on a new and unexplored trail, which will eventually lead to the one person she never suspected. Edwards has his own reasons for getting involved with Julian again. He believes he can solve the riddle of her father's murder. Whether it's to expiate his own guilt or prove to Julian that he's innocent of the crime she believes he committed isn't spelled out until the last page, but long before that the unlikely alliance between the tough but vulnerable Julian and the former cop who taught her everything she knows captivates the reader's interest and drives this strong, confident, and utterly engrossing mystery to its powerful conclusion. --Jane Adams